The first Create Carolina Festival at Winthrop will run May 14-June 2 and encompass acting and playwriting classes, workshops and performances under the York, S.C., native’s artistic direction. This year’s festival theme centers on war and its social and psychological effects.

For Create Carolina, Randolph-Wright will direct “Medal of Honor Rag,” Tom Cole’s 1976 play about a decorated Vietnam veteran’s troubled adjustment to life after a controversial war. Charlotte, N.C., native Chandler Parker, whom Randolph-Wright directed in “Preaching to the Choir,” will play the black veteran, DJ, while Polly Adkins, Winthrop alumna and local theatre veteran, has been cast as the psychiatrist. Written as a male role, Adkins will be the first female to play this role.

Showtimes will be Friday, May 25, Saturday, May 26, and Saturday, June 2, at 8 p.m. and Saturday, June 2, at 2 p.m. in Johnson Theatre. Tickets are $10 for Winthrop ID/senior (+65)/students and $15 general admission. The play contains adult content and language.

In keeping with the theme of war, a staged reading of a new commissioned play by New York-based playwright, filmmaker and actor Jonathan Davidson rounds out the performance schedule. The play is a musical comedy inspired by the Granny Peace Brigade, a group of elderly woman arrested for attempting to enlist in the Armed Forces as a form of protest against the Iraq War. The play deals not only with issues of war but with youthful apathy, the generation gap and the notion that one is never to old, to young or too insignificant to make a difference.

Showtimes will be Thursday, May 31, and Friday, June 1, at 8 p.m. in Johnson Theatre. Tickets are $8 for Winthrop ID/senior (+65)/student or $10 general admission.

The Create Carolina Arts Festival is a three-week multidisciplinary intensive arts experience offering three hours of university credit and the expectation for college-age students and adults to participate in production of both the play and staged reading through classes and workshops.

Spaces are still available for the 10 master workshops offered, covering auditions, scriptwriting, a theater critics’ panel and more. The cost is $25 each. For registration, contact Jamilyn Larsen at 803/323-2323.